FORT ATKINSON, Iowa — On Wednesday nights in the summer, the community surrounding Fort Atkinson gathers for music, laughter and fellowship. For Steve and Jeff Schmitt, who sit in the trumpet section of the community band, participation strengthens their bond with others beyond the farm gate.
“It’s important to us because it takes your mind off the farm,” Jeff said. “You have to have hobbies, and we love playing music. You can drive yourself crazy if you don’t have a hobby.”
The Schmitts operate Windy Hill Dairy near Fort Atkinson. Steve started the farm in 1981, and his son, Jeff, is the second generation to run the business. Windy Hill Dairy milks 160 cows in a double-8 parallel parlor and houses them in a freestall barn.
Participation in the concerts provides more than a hobby. It is the chance to connect with other members of their community.
The trumpets carry two parts within the composition, allowing Jeff and Steve to alternate their roles during the performance. The pair are no strangers to shifting roles. After studying at Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, Jeff came to the family farm in 2008 and eventually worked toward buying the farm from Steve.
“I spent about seven years working here and at my uncle’s farm down the road,” Jeff said. “I knew that if I was going to come back to this farm, it was going to need some modernization.”
At that time, Steve was milking 50 cows in a tiestall barn.
“He kept trying to convince me to modernize,” Steve said. “Eventually, it got through to me that if I wanted to keep this farm going, we needed to do something different. It was scary signing a loan for the parlor and freestall barn, but it was important to make sure we had the farm set up for the future.”
The enhancement of the farm Jeff grew up on further enticed him to stay.
“I had looked at other options, but on this farm, I knew I had my own control,” Jeff said. “I helped design the freestall barn and drew up the blueprints. If I was going to be spending the next 30 years farming, I wanted to build it right, and I’m happy I could do that here.”
Jeff and Steve built their 124-stall freestall barn on the north end of the farm, with construction finishing in 2015. Quickly after, the partnership at Windy Hill Dairy became official, with Steve as majority owner. Four years later, Steve and his wife, Debby, moved off the farm, opening the door for Jeff to live on the farm.
“With how our roles had changed at that time, it was definitely the right move to have him here and have full responsibility,” Steve said.
The partnership continues at the farm and flourishes when both get to take the stage every Wednesday night. The community band takes the stage at 8 p.m. weekly throughout the summer at the community center park in Fort Atkinson.
“Everybody needs an outlet of some sort,” Steve said. “For us, it’s the camaraderie. We can have fun just playing for ourselves and don’t necessarily care if there’s an audience or not. We can clown around and really have a good social setting while we’re there.”
The community band has lasted more than a century, with people from neighboring communities bringing their instruments for a chance to play traditional polkas, waltzes and marches.
“I joined the year after high school,” Steve said. “I had a friend that I played with in the high school band convince me to do it. When my boys were born, they’d sit by me as I played, and now Jeff and his brother both play in the band with me.”
Steve has been playing in the band for 50 years; Jeff is in year 25. The two start Wednesday evening milking a little early to ensure both can attend. The laidback attitude of the band also helps with their sometimes unpredictable schedule.
“There are times when we’re late or only one of us can go,” Jeff said. “One of us will stay back and finish up work on the farm. We take turns when nights like that come around, and we keep it balanced for both of us. There are nights when we have to make hay and neither one of us can go.”
Like the shifting roles of their trumpets, Steve now works alongside hired help and is a sounding board for Jeff as the younger generation guides the farm into the future.
“I still discuss everything with him before making a big decision,” Jeff said. “It’s nice to have someone who has spent their life on the farm there to listen to your ideas.”
Collaboration remains important, and Steve understands that although the farm started with him, this is an opportunity for his son to make it his own.
“Jeff is totally in charge,” Steve said. “Here and there he’ll ask what I’m thinking. He might regret that at times because we disagree, but we still talk through it. Sometimes I have to let him learn and figure it out on his own, just like it was when he was learning the trumpet.”
The Schmitt family.
Steve and Jeff Schmitt.